When Claudio Del Vecchio, newly installed in 2001 as the owner of Brooks Brothers, commissioned an extravagantly illustrated, pinstripe-bound history of the company, there was just one snag. The clothing retailer – reputedly America’s oldest – was losing customers.

But Mr Del Vecchio had a hunch. To resurrect itself as a style icon, Brooks Brothers – which has dressed Hollywood stars and US presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Clinton – needed to remind the world of its heritage. “The book [Generations of Style] was a way of returning to the founder’s mission to make beautiful clothes of the best quality.”